The Haunted Fortress of Bhangarh: Book 1

68. The love of a mother

The car ride from his house to Sudha's building was carried out in complete quietude. Despite the talkative Ishita plopping next to him, she didn't utter a single word and gazed out of the windshield, mindlessly drumming her fingers on her thighs. Even he remained silent when driving through the crowded by-lanes of the capital city, watching as the crowd intensified with each passing moment and the folks came on the roads to shop for the upcoming festivals of Christmas and New Year.

A variety of thoughts swirled in his mind, the primary being the drooping of Shweta's lips when he expressed his desire to visit his biological mother once more. Shweta was insecure for reasons best known to herself, but Rudra had no clue how to quell it. Not that it would matter anymore. In a span of three days, he would be gone for good and perhaps the two women would be able to share their grief of losing their son.

He brought the car to a halt in the guest parking of the modest apartment complex. Locking the car after the two of them had clambered out of it, they were making their way towards the edifice at the farthest end of the campus when he collided with someone owing to his unmindfulness.

"Oh sorry," he mumbled, backing away a couple of steps. His gaze landed on the girl in front of him, and his lips parted in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Shravani allowed an amiable smile on her lips despite watching Ishita roll her eyes and Rudra scowl at her. "A friend of mine lives here. Was just visiting her. What are you and Ishita doing here?"

Ishita muttered under her breath, "And why should we tell anything to a hag like you?"

However, Rudra caught it, and he directed a glare towards her. When Ishita puckered her lips and blinked rapidly, he centered his attention on the other beaming girl. "Came here to visit Sudha Aunty. Wanna join?"

Shravani shook her head. "You guys go ahead. I have to be somewhere else."

He had his brows go up. "Where have you been for the last week or so? You didn't text me."

Her lips drooped, and a sheen of moisture appeared in her eyes. "I didn't know you wished to talk to me. I thought you... you hate me. So..."

He took a sharp breath. "See you." He motioned at Ishita to make a move, and the two of them trod past the girl as tears glistened on her cheeks.

***

Sudha was again surprised upon discovering Rudra with a girl at her doorstep. Adorned in a light green cotton saree with a thin golden necklace wound around her neck, she was busy watering the plants outside her apartment when the duo waved at her after alighting from the elevator. A wide grin was etched on Rudra's face—quite unlike what she had seen on him the two times they had met before. Beaming too, she abandoned the water can and tugged at his wrist to take him in.

Glimpsing at the exuberant girl accompanying him, she said, "Your girlfriend?"

Ishita's nose scrunched up in distaste, and Rudra nearly gagged. "No!" both shrieked at the same time.

Huffing, Rudra said, "She is a very good friend of mine, but she is not my girlfriend. She can be super annoying at times. Not at all bearable."

Ishita had her mouth hung open when Sudha and Rudra snickered, and she smacked his arm before glaring at him. "He is right, Aunty. We can only be very good friends. How can I be his girlfriend when," she snorted, "he already has a hag pining for his attention!"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Stop there," he growled.

Sudha's smile didn't waver, but lines of confusion appeared on her forehead. "Hag?"